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This page contains personal writings of Jijo Punnoose. Some of which are sensitive and may not be palatable to every reader. All the other articles by this author, a reader would find, technical and scientific in nature. But not so here. It is cautioned that unless the reader has had some spiritual foundation, these articles would seem absurd. Because, spirituality is of a domain beyond rational minds. ------

About SAFETY accidents never happen …. they are caused!

As the film's director, the safety precautions on my shooting sets I took very seriously, and had continued that same onus later to my amusement park days. It could have been out of my fear of the consequences, that I have spent hours and hours studying the Application of Murphy's Law in design & execution of machines, and its practical application in performances and the staging of events. My realization that safety is the responsibility of the person at the helm happened in 1982 - the year 'the Twilight zone accident' happened on an L.A. filmset - killing the main actor and two performing children. Also, there was a lesson in one of my own stars 'Jayan' dying on a shooting accident in Nov. 1980.

[My friends are sometimes surprised when I remember events from the past. I myself am surprised at the vividness of some of my earliest memories]

▶ Palaattukoman, Elephant 1961 I would have been 4 years old in 1961 when my uncle Kunchacko and my papa Appachan were shooting ﬁlm Palaattukoman in the forests of Sholayar. Camped in the remote hydroelectric project site of 'Peringal' dam with papa, ammachi, my younger brother jos and newborn sister jissmol, I recall fragmented visuals of a tumult happening then. …. Elephant running off with my infant sister Jissmol hung inside a straw-spun baby cot. People running behind the elephant screaming to save the baby. The bawling, terriﬁed face of my infant sister looking up at the elephant's open mouth… and my own mother's terror stricken face!

These visuals made some sense later in my boyhood when my mother many times narrated the whole scene …. a scene that was being shot …. a shot that went wrong. The story plot of film 'Palaattukoman' was that of a royal mother banished from her kingdom, bringing up her newborn in the forests. The scene being shot was one of her hazards in the forest. A wild elephant enters the jungle settlement and carries off her newborn left unattended sleeping in a baby cot tied under a tree. My sister was newborn and my papa resorted to stage it with her - though in the film it was supposed to be a boychild which grows up to become the hero 'Palaattukoman'. The screen mother - I remember a Telugu actress, rocks the infant to sleep and leaves to gather wood for fuel. Well, …. the shooting progressed to the point that the trained elephant was made to act out the script in full. But, as in the script when the crowd with outcries started chasing it, the pachyderm panicked! Hence the unintended results. The mahout's courage in jumping in front to calm the elephant saved the situation from becoming disastrous. In her narrations of this incident to me, my mother's last line would be that of my papa being tongue-lashed by his furious elder brother ….. "What purpose did that risk serve ? …. .. a dummy of the child within the cot would have sufficed!!" My mother would stop there …. because, to talk ill about elders was a taboo then. And to me, just as for everybody in childhood, my papa was my hero. She wouldn't want to spoil that. But those last lines would remain ringing in my ears. Satyan as Palaattukoman >> -CUT- to my memories at my age of 11. ▶ Suzy, Ropebridge 1968 Malayalam film Suzy 1968. Studying in the sixth standard, during the summer holidays of 1969, I remember going to Malampuzha Gardens. My brother & sisters and a lot of our cousins of my age, all of us were accompanying when my papa took us along to picturise a song for the said film. It was a school excursion song and even I was given a line to sing in it. ജിഗ് ജിഗ് ജിഗ് ജിഗ് തീവി, ഒൻ തീവി .... !"#$ !"#$ !"#$ !"#$ %&'(", )*+,- %&'(" .... This I did standing on top of the playground's narrow gauge train's engine. Devarajan Master's song tune was that of "jingle bells, jingle bells ….". Incidentally, Mr. Kottarakara - who was the evil magician in Kuttichathan, played the school teacher who takes the excursion group with him.

I was with papa when he went around Palghat town organizing children (during school vacation time!) for the shooting … their food, transport, chaperons …etc. I stood by when choreographer Murthy explained to papa the shot divisions. I also stood watching when for one of the shots the children & Kottarakkara were being led onto the suspended steel-cable- rope footbridge hung over the dam's spillway.

A warning sign to the bridge very clearly said 50 persons maximum. My unease started when the number of children climbing on to that rope bridge went beyond 60. But none of the adults seemed perturbed. There were a lot of elders around … dam officials, engineers, parents, … but nobody hesitated as papa was in full command and instructing away with confidence. The rope bridge had considerably sagged, I noticed. I once again looked at the warning board and discreetly notified papa of the figure "50 persons". Pappa reacted to it in the same way my own thoughts were assuaging me … "That number is for full-grown adults".

Even at that young age I knew there would have been some sort of a margin in the mind of the authorities who posted the sign ….. but I also knew that a rule is a rule! What made me uncomfortable was a fact that the gap - the ﬁrst step one took from land onto the swaying bridge (between the sagging bridge's suspended base and the solid masonry steps on the landing ground), had widened. The bridge was now becoming completely full … as children kept getting on and lined up at the farther end from the camera and us. The base structure of the bridge was made of steel frame. Wooden slats were laid in close intervals for people to walk. I could hear the wire ropes creaking when children - as they normally do, cautiously stepped each foot from one slat to the next. (The bridge anyway did creak even in the wind …. just that, to an anxious me it sounded much louder then).

The gap at the landing had now become wide enough that my leg could fall through. * Thankfully, with the bridge almost full (or did we run out of children to ﬁll? I don't recollect), a take was called. There was no rehearsals, because it was not meant as a choreographed movement. It was an establishment shot during a music interlude …. the children were to be shown walking on the bridge. The song playback started from a 35mm ﬁlm strip running on an optical audio machine (with glass-marking-pencils the song lines and shot numbers were

*some images & sounds do remain frozen in the mind. this was one such. marked on the celluloid ﬁlm). The music came blaring through a 'horn speaker' held high. The shot was taken, but the kids had hardly advanced on the bridge for those 8 bars of music. Because, they were cautiously stepping over the slats - one by one. Yet, choreographer Murthymaster said a reluctant "O.K." for that ﬁrst take. But my papa after some "Hmmm ..hmm … hm" which meant - 'maybe it could be done better', said aloud "Why don't you all swing to the music rhythm and leap forward on each step you take …. that would look energetic …. shall we try again?"

My heart jumped at that. Before myself, a 11 year old brought up on a discipline by which I couldn't contest an adult's decision in public, could react …. I heard a voice. "Venda, Venda … (NO. NO) …." It was a man standing nearby, and he had said it with a certain amount of emphasis. That gave me the courage to immediately say. "Mathi papa, ippozey vallaandu valanju" (enough papa, already it has sagged quite bad). Papa looked back and forth between me and that man …. gave an unsure smile absent in his repertoire, …. and said "Mathiyo? Shari, O.K. then …. Master, next shot". That man, I don't know who it was. I don't think he was a Dam/ P.W.D. ofﬁcial … it could have been one of the parents of the children.

……………………………………………..

(Such a shame, I could ﬁnd no local journal report on this Munnar Bridge Tragedy on internet archives. Only New York Times!)

125 Children Missing As Indian Bridge Falls Reuters Published: November 8, 1984 NEW DELHI, Nov. 7— About 125 schoolchildren were missing today after a rope bridge collapsed over a swollen stream in a mountain region of the southern state of Kerala, the Press Trust of India reported.

The news agency said the bodies of at least nine girls and three boys had been recovered.

Fifteen others had been injured, several of them seriously.

It quoted the police as saying a middle-aged man who saw the bridge collapse died of a heart attack. Not even a single household of this small hill-town went untouched by a death in the family.

The police said the exact number of missing was not known but about 150 children during school break time had rushed onto the bridge, over a stream in the town of Munnar, to watch a helicopter hover overhead. The warning limiting the load on this British-era bridge went unheeded. A naval helicopter and six divers were helping the police and firemen search for the missing. The stream was high because water had been diverted from a dam and mud was hampering the rescue work, the news agency said.

…………………………………………….. When I came to know of the tragedy above, a horrifying news in Kerala those times, I realized I was correct in 'disagreeing' with my Papa that day at Malampuzha Gardens. There is yet another reason to this realization of mine. After a spate of aircraft accidents in which Cockpit Voice Recordings of various air disasters revealed that a copilot/ ﬂight engineer had failed to emphatically caution the pilot of what he had feared, a new Crew Resource Management science was introduced in ﬂight procedures. The subordinate crew were encouraged to warn the pilot of their understanding of the situation - if they foresee a From Bullet Catching Trick to Sky Diving, Screen Stunts to Arial Shows

Karl Wallenda Michael Jackson Twilight Zone - helicopter falls from tightrope burned during ad shoot of Pepsi decapitates star and three children

In 1978, at age 73, German born daredevil Karl Wallenda Los Angeles on January 27, 1984: Filming a segment of the 1983 movie The Twilight attempted a walk between the two towers of the ten-story Michael Jackson was hospitalized Zone, produced by Steven Spielberg, Vic Morrow Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on a wire following serious burns to his head (53), Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen stretched 121 ft (37 metres) above the pavement. Due to high after his hair caught light during a (age 6) died in an accident involving a helicopter winds, he fell to his death during the attempt. freak filming accident. The being used on the set. It was flying at an altitude of

25-year-old entertainer was singing 25 feet, too low to avoid the explosions of the live Karl Wallenda was almost half his hit "Billie Jean" for a Pepsi Cola pyrotechnics used on set. When the blasts severed way across when a wind commercial in Los Angeles when the special effects went the tail rotor, it spun out of control and crashed, exceeding 30 miles per hour wrong. On the sixth take of a particular video shot, Three killing the 3 performers. made the high wire sway. Karl thousand fans saw the firework display which erupted behind Everyone inside the tried to sit on the wire but the superstar, showering him sparks and setting light to his hair. helicopter survived. At slipped and fell to his death. At first, unaware of the danger, Jackson had continued to dance. the controls of the helicopter that was “bombing” the village

Bullet Catching Casualties Campbell killed during record attempt was Dorcey Wingo, an actual Vietnam veteran. Wingo was new to the movie business, so even when the rehearsal #1 Chung Ling Soo – in fact an American named William Donald Malcolm Campbell CBE (1921 – 1967) was a British explosions that buffeted his chopper scared him Robinson – is history’s most famous bullet catch casualty. speed record breaker who broke eight world speed records. The witless, he swallowed his concerns, especially as Never speaking English in public his publicists claimed he only person to set both world land and water speed records in the Landis who had a reputation for being dictatorial on could channel the mysteries of the Orient on stage. He’d have same year (1964). set screamed expletives into the California night. members of the audience called up to the stage to mark a Donald Campbell aged 46, was killed a split second before Morrow - the hero, was an erstwhile star hoping for bullet that was then loaded into one of the guns. Attendants breaking his own water speed record in his jet-powered boat, the a comeback. The two children he was ‘saving from fired the gun at Chung, and he seemed to catch bullets from Bluebird K7. He was traveling at more than 300mph (483 km/h) the village’ were aspiring actors who didnt know the air and spat them on a plate he held up in front of him. on Coniston Water when the boat was catapulted 50ft (15m) into that work regulations for child performers were The trick went wrong when Chung was performing at the the air after its nose lifted. The boat hit water and immediately being flouted at the shooting venue. After the disintegrated. Wood Green Empire, London, on March 23, 1918. On that copter crashed, there was shocked silence until fateful night, the flash from the gun's priming pan which was On the first leg he had reached speeds of 297mph (478km/h), Renee’s mother started shrieking as she kneeled designed to bye-pass the bullet chamber also accidentally which meant he had to top 308mph (496km/h) on the return over her daughter’s lifeless body. Morrow never got ignited the charge behind the marked bullet in the barrel of journey. Reports suggest he had actually reached speeds of up to to deliver his scripted line: “I’ll keep you safe, kids. the gun. Consequently, the bullet got fired, hitting Chung in 320mph (515km/h). He was just 200 yards (183m) from the end I promise. Nothing will hurt you, I swear to God.” the chest. His last words were spoken on stage that moment, of the second leg of his attempt when the accident happened. The accident led to legal action against the "Oh my God. Something's happened. Lower the curtain." It This means the water speed record of 276.33mph (444.61km/h), filmmakers which lasted nearly a decade. was the first and last time "Chung Ling Soo" had spoken which Campbell himself set in Australia in 1964, remains unbro- English in public. ken as both legs of the attempt were not completed. Brandon Lee His wife had to explain the nature of the trick. The circum- The wreckage from the lake bottom could be recovered only 33 dies filming stances of the accident were verified by the gun expert years later in 2000. His body was found in 2001. The Crow Robert Churchilland. The inquest judged it a case of "accidental death".

Morrow, Renee, Myca

Jayan's Helicopter Crash Kamal did the jumps successfully; Jayan toppled over and was Houdini succumbs to performance barely saved because he could cling to the train's edge by his related injuries. During the years 1977 - 80, Krishnan finger nails. Such were the times. Nair a.k.a. Jayan was a popular actor of Malayalam language Harry Houdini died in Detroit, Michigan cinema in Kerala - a small southern state in India. Particular- On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the on Halloween in 1926. Contrary to popular ly famous for his macho image (called Jayan style) and sets of the movie Kolilakkam (Shockwave). The climactic scene belief, he didn’t die in a performance. chauvinistic appeal, he used to perform his own stunts of of the movie was being filmed at Sholavaram car race course, Houdini had been suffering from appendicitis dangerous nature and became known as an 'action star'. With Madras, Tamil Nadu. The scene called for the hero Jayan along when J. Gordon Whitehead decided to test Houdini’s a number of film hits and a gala fan following in 1979, he had with actor Sukumaran in pursuit of Balan. K. Nair, as Balan the claim that he could take any blow to the stomach. White- just achieved superstardom when the tragedy occurred. villain makes his escape on a helicopter taking off from the race head didn’t give Houdini a chance to prepare himself and track. Contracted for 24 films that year, Jayan had other film repeatedly punched him in the stomach area. ... (continued) shoots lined up for the day (!) With an early morning drizzle Jayan having served in the Indian Navy before becoming an going on, and with performers Balan and Sukumaran also short actor, had a penchant for risky stunt situations - some of of time, for this film scheduled for an imminent release director which so as to enhance his persona he would goad his films' Sundaram needed only 'a master shot' of Jayan pillion-riding the directors into. Once such action scenes became popular in bike driven by actor Sukumaran. With the bike following an Ramstein those day's conservative malayalam cinema, dangerous and airborne copter, Jayan merely had to rise up from his hind seat as airshow disaster thrilling stunts started being specifically incorporated in if latching onto the copter's landing pad. The ensuing hand to films with Jayan as the lead. In film Moorkhan ('Cobra', hand fight inside the copter between the hero and the villain, Ten Aermacchi MB-339 PAN jets from the Italian Air 1980) he broke through a brick wall riding on a motor bike. Sundaram had planned to picturise later using stunt doubles. The Force display team, Frecce Tricolori, were performing In Chandrahasam ('Moonsword', 1980) he held on to the master shot completed as required, was acceptable for the their 'pierced heart' formation. In this formation, two hook of a massive ship loading crane, elevated to a height of director in the first take itself. groups of aircraft create a heart shape in front of the 200 feet, before jumping off to the top of the vessel. In audience along the runway. In the completion of the lower Ariyappedatha Rahasyam ('Untold secret', 1981) he fought Yet, Jayan insisted on a re-take where he would actually hang on tip of the heart, the two groups pass each other parallel to an elephant. Such performances were not choreographed by to the copter. The agri-sprayer helicopter was flown by a pilot the runway. The heart is then pierced, in the direction of professional stunt directors, but improvised by the actor with no prior film or stunt-shoot experience. But he had insisted the audience, by a lone aircraft. himself. They lacked safety features which latter-day film his co-passenger, actor Balan, not to move at all - so that the shoots were required to follow as part of the industrial safety copter could be held steady when flying 8 feet off the ground, The mid-air collision took place as the two heart-forming norms. And, insurance was unheard of. For instance, for the with Jayan hanging onto the landing pad. This take also was shot groups passed each other and the heart-piercing aircraft hit said crane shot of Jayan which was improvised only after the successfully. Then Jayan insisted on a third take where he would them. The piercing aircraft crashed onto the runway and shooting crew had reached the wharf, there lacked both a grapple with Balan while airborne. Unknown to everybody else, consequently both the fuselage and resulting fireball of safety net and a body harness - precautions in the event the Jayan suggested Balan to kick him, and thus add realism to the aviation fuel tumbled into the spectator area, hitting the performer were to have an accidental fall. In Puthiya performance … Jayan had planned to extend his actions by crowd of 30,0000 people. The Ramstein air show disaster Velicham ('New Light', 1979) Jayan along with actor Kamal climbing on to the landing pad. During this last take, Balan occurred on Sunday August 28, 1988 during the Hasan performs a stunt - jumping atop trains moving parallel unbuckled himself from the seat so as to kick out at Jayan. The Flugtag '88 airshow at the US Ramstein Air to each other. After the rehearsals with stunt doubles, Kamal helicopter toppled and crashed with Jayan's head getting crushed Base near the city of Kaiserslautern, West Hasan volunteered to do it himself. Not to be left behind, between the pad and the ground. The Pilot and Balan survived, Germany. 67 spectators and 3 pilots died. Jayan insisted he too would do it as he followed Kamal on though with major injuries. Jayan was 41 years old when he 346 spectators sustained serious injuries. top of one moving train to another in an apparent film chase. died.

The Scream by mishap about to happen. This was introduced in 1978 after the United Airlines Flight 173 Edvard Munch (1900s) disaster where the pilot ignored hints from the crew that the fuel is running out. Again, it was as Spielberg said after the disaster in his Twilight zone set …. "Anybody has the right to call out "-CUT-" in a ﬁlmset, if they sense some sort of a danger. Remember, From Bullet Catching Trick to Sky Diving, Screen Stunts to Arial Shows this task which we term as a 'ﬁlm shoot' is only for human entertainment ….. no shot is ever worth an injury or loss to life! "

Karl Wallenda Michael Jackson Twilight Zone - helicopter falls from tightrope burned during ad shoot of Pepsi decapitates star and three children Inapraavukal, injury 1964 In 1978, at age 73, German born daredevil! Karl Wallenda Los Angeles on January 27, 1984: Filming a segment of the 1983 movie The Twilight attempted a walk between the twoIt towers would of the ten-storybe easy to accuse DirectorMichael John Jackson Landiswas hospitalized for Zone, produced by Steven Spielberg, Vic Morrow Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on a wire following serious burns to his head (53), Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen stretched 121 ft (37 metres) above thewhat pavement. happened Due to high in the sets of Twilightafter Zone his hair -caught The light Movie. during a (age 6) died in an accident involving a helicopter winds, he fell to his death during the attempt. freak filming accident. The being used on the set. It was flying at an altitude of Yes, the mistake was definitely his. But it should not be 25-year-old entertainer was singing 25 feet, too low to avoid the explosions of the live Karl Wallenda was almost half his hit "Billie Jean" for a Pepsi Cola pyrotechnics used on set. When the blasts severed way across when a wind forgotten that filmshoots sometimes take place at commercial in Los Angeles when the special effects went the tail rotor, it spun out of control and crashed, exceeding 30 miles per hour atmospheres akinwrong. to On warfarethe sixth take of… a particularoccurring video shot, Threeat killing the 3 performers. made the high wire sway. Karl thousand fans saw the firework display which erupted behind Everyone inside the tried to sit on the wire but battlegrounds calledthe superstar,'locations'. showering himI sparks remember and setting light tosong his hair. helicopter survived. At slipped and fell to his death. 'akkarakkundo?' beingAt first,shot unaware for of thefilm danger, inapraavukal Jackson had continued to(love dance. the controls of the helicopter that was birds) in 1964. I would have been 8 - 9 years old. I was “bombing” the village

Bullet Catching Casualtiesgranted leave from school Campbell (3rd killed standard) during record for attempt the day was Dorcey Wingo, an actual Vietnam veteran. Wingo was new to the movie business, so even when the rehearsal #1 Chung Ling Soo – in fact an American named William Donald Malcolm Campbell CBE (1921 – 1967) was a British when I was taken along with the shooting crew from explosions that buffeted his chopper scared him Robinson – is history’s most famous bullet catch casualty. speed record breaker who broke eight world speed records. The witless, he swallowed his concerns, especially as Never speaking English in public hisAlappuzha publicists claimed to he Aluva. onlyI was person playingto set both world the land young and water speedage records of inthe the Landis who had a reputation for being dictatorial on could channel the mysteries of the Orient on stage. He’d have same year (1964). set screamed expletives into the California night. members of the audience called uphero to the stage(Sathyan). to mark a There was a girl of 7 years (I don't Donald Campbell aged 46, was killed a split second before Morrow - the hero, was an erstwhile star hoping for bullet that was then loaded into one of the guns. Attendants remember her name …breaking even his own the water credit speed record titles in his jet-powered of that boat, film the a comeback. The two children he was ‘saving from fired the gun at Chung, and he seemed to catch bullets from Bluebird K7. He was traveling at more than 300mph (483 km/h) the village’ were aspiring actors who didnt know the air and spat them on a plate he held up in front of him. has been lost) playingon Conistonthe heroine's Water when the young boat was catapulted age with50ft (15m) me. into that work regulations for child performers were The trick went wrong when Chung(Sarada was performing was at the the heroinethe air after- being its nose lifted. a smalltime The boat hit water actress and immediately in being flouted at the shooting venue. After the disintegrated. Wood Green Empire, London, on March 23, 1918. On that copter crashed, there was shocked silence until fateful night, the flash from the gun'sTelugu priming pan films,which was this wasOn her the first first leg hemajor had reached role). speeds of 297mph (478km/h), Renee’s mother started shrieking as she kneeled designed to bye-pass the bullet chamber also accidentally which meant he had to top 308mph (496km/h) on the return over her daughter’s lifeless body. Morrow never got ignited the charge behind the marked bullet in the barrel of journey. Reports suggest he had actually reached speeds of up to to deliver his scripted line: “I’ll keep you safe, kids. the gun. Consequently, the bullet got fired, hitting Chung in 320mph (515km/h). He was just 200 yards (183m) from the end I promise. Nothing will hurt you, I swear to God.” the chest. His last words were spoken on stage that moment, of the second leg of his attempt when the accident happened. The accident led to legal action against the "Oh my God. Something's happened. Lower the curtain." It This means the water speed record of 276.33mph (444.61km/h), filmmakers which lasted nearly a decade. was the first and last time "Chung Ling Soo" had spoken which Campbell himself set in Australia in 1964, remains unbro- English in public. ken as both legs of the attempt were not completed. Brandon Lee His wife had to explain the nature of the trick. The circum- The wreckage from the lake bottom could be recovered only 33 dies filming stances of the accident were verified by the gun expert years later in 2000. His body was found in 2001. The Crow Robert Churchilland. The inquest judged it a case of "accidental death".

Morrow, Renee, Myca

The Scream by Edvard Munch (1900s) [I remember this well because when the film came out I was made fun of in my school - which anyway always happened Given below are photographs once I was made to act in one of our movies - for having a from "periyaarey…" song in Bharya 1962. young girlfriend. So much that, for film Pearl view 1969, I Seen here with Satyan, Ragini & myself is my 'Seetha Akka' - the granddaughter of insisted that I shall play a similar role only if my own young Bhima (Jeweler) who played my 'kochechi' (elder sister) in the hit film. sister Jissmol is paired to play the role opposite mine!] This is not the song mentioned as that shot in 1964. I couldn't find any pictures of those. >>

The shooting was in Periyar river, Aluva (where a couple of years ago I played child to Sathyan & Ragini in the celebrated ﬁlm Bharya 1962 - song "periyaarey … periyaarey"). This song now for inapraavukal was to be completed in a single day and we had to return home to

Alappuzha by the evening. Those days when 90% of shootings occurred inside studio floors, outdoor shooting was a rare and expensive affair. That was because of the logistics, the uncertainty of lighting conditions, etc. We the family members were made to pray very hard for clear skies - whenever an outdoor shooting was planned by my uncle & my pappa. I am sure it was true for all film-families of those days. Those days B&W film stock was not sensitive enough … and hence the heavy makeup on performers to increase the The boat used for "akkarakkundo?" song of Inapraavukal contrast on facial details …. which as a child, I hated. was unlike the one above. Given such limitations, ideal shooting hours in the It was a country canoe. outdoors were quite limited. Add to this the fact that the shooting was taking place on water ….. one of the most difficult of assignments.

On water, the difficulty in framing a shot and in maintaining the angle of incident light rises exponentially when the complexity keep increasing as below. (1) both camera and subject on water, together. (2) camera on land, subject on water. (3) camera on water, subject on land. (4) camera on land, two subjects (separately) on water. (5) camera and 2 subjects on water, all separate. ….. So on and so forth. And the power of the exponent goes up with the drift in the water current! I learned this reality while shooting the naval encounter in film Padayottam during august 1981at Punnamada backwaters. After the first day's abysmal 3 number of shots achieved amidst nightmarish logistics, I anchored the camera and the vessels at the shallow waters around Munroe Thuruth island (which also served as the location base-station) for the next 7 days. The drifts could be controlled that way. The island being tiny, it was possible to avoid land in the camera angles … and hence the waterscape seemed endless all around. When reading about the difficulties they had in filming Waterworld (1995), I was shaking my head in disbelief.

Reﬂectors had to be positioned (while on water!) for lighting up actor's faces during closeups and mid shots. No artiﬁcial lighting were done on the outdoors then. An A.C. generator was essentially used in synchronizing the sound equipment with the heavy Mitchell Camera - both running on 60 cycles 3 phase 110 volts *(American standard). Or else, lip in the picture won't sync with the audio. So you would understand why the director Mr. Kunchacko - my uncle, was screaming obscenities at his loyal workers and favorite unit hands to get the shots right in time to packup and go back to Alappuzha by the day's end.

* Even for post production, to sync the 35mm optical/ magnetic audio to the picture, the same method of 3 phase sine- wave motors was used. It interlocked film projectors with audio machines. A common 3 phase power source ensured that the 3 phase motors in projector/ camera/ audio machines kept the same speed even when voltage variations happened. It was much like a mechanical coupling over vast distances.

[Started in the 1930s, this electrical locking system was followed till the 1980s … by which time electronic timekeeping by crystal governors took over. And by the 1990s, digital & computer age had come]. Now, a phase-locking could keep the film running in different machines in sync. But, to catch the 'start mark' is a different matter. There was no numbering for the sprocket holes in the film stocks (unlike the time code which video tape would come to have). Hence, subsequent to the execution of a 'take', it would be humanly impossible to find out from which exact frames the film strips in the individual machines had started running. To solve this problem, before an actual 'take' the power source of all the machines in the chain were routed to a common 3 phase switch … this switch was operated to ensure all the machines started simultaneously. It was common to hear shouts of 'interlock' by camera assistants and sound assistants when a song shoot was going on …. which meant, a 'take' was about to take place. In the recording studios it would be a hushed instruction through the intercom. At the shooting spot, the interlock switch would be positioned with the song playback operator. When switched on, it would start both his machine and the camera simultaneously. At the recording studio, up in the projection cabin it would be the projector operator who would operate the interlock master switch.

[There would almost always be a 'zero-error' connected with an interlocked start. Since the electric load (capacitors, resistance) on each machine in the chain is different, the initial torque on the motors would be different …. and hence, there would be minute differences at the pickup, till the ideal r.p.m that facilitates a 24 f.p.s is reached in every motor. The zero error shall be in a few hundredth of a second - i.e.; a few frames (for example, +2 for song playback machine, -1 for dubbing recorders ..etc.). The zero error for a machine was always determined empirically by observation. And once ﬁxed, it never varies for a machine in the chain.

By the 1970s, the American (RCA/ Westrex/ Magnasync) way of 'electrical phase interlock' was slowly replaced. The advancement in electronics saw French, Swiss (Perfectone/ Nagra/ Stellavox) and Canadian (Magnatech) bring pulse encoders that drove syncronous-stepper motors. With AC 3 phase (sine wave) motors getting replaced by the stepper motors (square wave), in the studios 35mm film audio machines could now be 'slaved' to a single source. Meanwhile at the location, with a pulse control track on non-sprocketed tape, an audio playback machine could be synched to film camera. With the arrival of crystal controlled motors (a crystal clock as in the digital watches), the pulse connection cable between camera and audio machine would be dispensed with.

Periyar river must be 500 meters wide at that point … this is the length of Mangalapuzha bridge that spans the stream here. Hundreds of spectators on the river bank were being made to duck when a take was called. We (myself, the girl & few others) were on a country boat where Mr. Muthaiyah, playing role of the boatman, sang the song while rowing across the river to transport people from one river bank to the other. That particular shot I remember happened before the noon break. A passing shot. The camera and the song playback machine were then positioned on one shore … quite a long way off. Instructions were being shouted (by relay, through an array of assistant directors) to us on the boat. The instructions also had to reach 3 men belonging to the outdoor unit (Divakaran, Vava & one more person I don't remember), who hiding behind bushes in the opposite shore to that of the camera, were pulling our boat with a towline so as to position the boat adequately in the camera frame. We are talking of those times when walkie-talkies or cellphones didn't exist. Instructions couldn't be clearly heard over the music playback ….. but I could realize that the farther we were from the camera, the boat had to move faster (pulled by the 3 lightmen, since Mr. Muthaiyah couldn't row that fast) so as to be seen traversing the river during the duration of the shot. As take after take didn't turn out as intended, frenzy arose and abuses ﬂew from my uncle's mouth and the assistant directors were in turn yelling "faster! faster .. damn!!" (I suppose it would have been the same for Twilight Zone shooting on Landis's set. Sometimes on my sets too such frenzies had arisen. Luckily, it must have been memories of the tragedies that had restrained me from going overboard).

I remember it was a 12 bars music interlude with shehnoy & kanoon instruments (followed by charanam/ aanthra lines വെ ഉടുു വെ ള ു ാ ം കാല് പിയിൽ പേ ാ ക ു ം പ ാ വ ു ക ളേ ഇണ പ ാ വ ു ക ളേ ….) that was being shot. Myself and the girl were seated on the middle plank facing Mr. Muthaiyah, (facing away from the direction of the travel) as the boat was being pulled behind us. A couple of other travelers were also seated behind us. As "-CUT-" was called and the music stopped, the elders realized that the boat was going too fast even after the shot was over. As Mr. Muthaiyah just about warned us two kids to sit tight, I heard a "crunch" sound and turned back. (That bone crunching sound still rings in my ears even after half a century of this occurring). At the place we were shooting - which was a few miles down stream from Aluva town, Periyar river has sheer vertical laterite stone banks on its sides. To stop the boat from ramming into the laterite rock wall and injuring us occupants, Divakaran had jumped to push away the boat (it was a kerala vallam with pointed bows on both sides). In the process his palm got crushed between the stone and the boat's bow. As I turn around I see Divakaran writhing and collapsing into water with agony. The shooting must have stopped for about 3 minutes to sent Divakaran for medical attention … before we resumed again to complete that shot before lunch break.

Aah … we Indians! .. (or should I lament .. we mallus? or we alappuzhaites? ) It seems we never learn from accidents. The same thing occurred again, exactly the same way! The boat pulled … faster this time, was not stopped in time …. and before elders in the boat could catch hold of us kids, both of us inapraavukal were toppled backwards from the plank to hit the boat's bottom. Poor Vava, having seen what had happened to poor Divakaran, decided not be chivalrous. And hence he didn't make any attempt to stop the boat from smashing against the rocks this time. The girl started bawling aloud … and reluctantly, I gave her company and together we rendered a pathos duet track that replaced the song. By the time I ﬁnished my sobs I could still see the peevish face of Vava on the bank. (My mother always entrusted us kids to Vava's care … as he was a trusted person who would occasionally come to our home …. for doing house repair work when shooting was not happening at Udaya Studios).

My narrating the above is for a specific reason. To state that I won't blame any of the filmmakers (my uncle Kunchacko, my papa Appachan, John Landis, …. Jayan ….. or for that matter Jijo - myself) for being adventurous or for taking risks. Who would have discovered the frontiers of the earth and explored the moon if it were not for people who were prepared to take those risks and did not shy away from dangers associated with such adventures? When I look into the lives of some of the earliest filmmakers, I realize that their entrepreneurship was not any less risky than that of the maritime explorers who had mapped the unexplored, and made it the globe we know today. It did require some daring ….. and that 'dare' would have reflected in the way they conducted their operations too. Having said that, I come to an aspect called prudence. Because, the science behind safety is not about risk assessment - that discipline is termed insurance. The science behind safety is mere prudence.

Being prudent doesn't stop you from taking risks. But it tells you that (1) You can't 'play' with human lives - including yours. (2) There are scientiﬁc safeguards to avoid accidents. The science behind safety starts with mathematics - enumerating the possible areas of failure - both in terms of human conduct & system performance. The science behind safety involves engineering - designing the system in a way it is 'fail- safe'. It again involves mathematics - in incorporating redundancy for system & components. And ﬁnally it is about commonsense - for drawing parallels from similar situations. But knowledge alone would not prevent accidents. Because safety is not just a science … it is an attitude. Many a time it is mere human lethargy (like, avoiding wearing a helmet/ seatbelt despite the statistics the studies make known) or sheer over-enthusiasm (like, Space shuttle Challenger tragedy) that prevent people giving heed to voices of prudence.

For example, (1) It would have been mere prudence to anticipate the difﬁculties in towing the boat back and forth across river Periyar, and to make arrangements for that, if my uncle Kunchacko the director had done his homework right. That would have needed a planning of the shots beforehand. It would not have cost anything major. Yessir, LETHARGY!! (2) It would have been mere commonsense to realize that the boat shall hit the bank again. An attempt to caution/ drill the occupants of the boat or to make arrangements to break the boat's advance with a secondary rope from the opposite bank, would not have costed a huge amount of time. Yessir, OVER-ENTHUSIASM!! Coupled with these there are two added factor for us easterners - fatalism (വരാനുത് വഴിയിൽ തി !!) and delusion (കുഴം ഒും സംഭവിിായിരിാം !!) These are only side-effects of an otherwise good attitude to life we easterners (especially we Indians) have. Unlike westerners, this comes from the age-old philosophy - MAYA, by which we take every misfortune (even death) in its stride. This philosophy is an ideal mindset to transcend events once they have happened ….. but, it should not prevent us from taking 'humanly possible' precautions from making some of those events happen again. Those who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it - Edmund Burke 1729 – 1797

Another thing I remember with this incident is not related to safety, but to human nature. Alappuzha, the place of the communist uprising called Punnapra Vayalar has always been a cauldron for labor activism, strikes and lockouts. Labor unrest had caused many a capitalist from stop doing business in Alappuzha. Our Udaya Studios and sister concern Excel Glasses had also been subject to this predicament. Around 1968 there was a lockout declared in Udaya Studios due to a labor problem for which the union leader was Divakaran. Naturally, myself - a capitalist offspring, had to see him as an enemy. But it would always come up in my mind that it was the same Divakaran who beyond the call of duty stopped the boat that day. It gave me the realization that once the clouds of human compartmentalization is set aside - here it is the economic principles Labor Vs Capital, true humanity can be seen raining within the hearts. continued …

▶ padayottam kerosine bomb - 1981 march, malampuzha

▶ padayottam water bomb - 1981 sept, munroe thuruth punnamada

▶ singaram's rick falls into gutter & schemer's tuv standards

▶ a minor injury occurred to Tailor Das in the rotating set

▶ hydrogeen balloons ﬁre safeguard - kuttichathan

▶ kishkinta whitewater ride overturn - 1994 nov, chennai

Murphy's Law and its applications for safety (designs, systems & regulations) ------